Desktop Desperation
Z68 (May 2011)
A chipset for the performance concious main-stream user. The z68 was Intel’s second such platform – following the p67 six months earlier – to support its 32nm “Sandy Bridge” generation of processors and thus represented a “refresh” of existing technology.
The z68 inherited the p67’s 1155 pin socket design which at the time, was compatible with no less than 14 CPUs. These were a combination of core i3, core i5 and core i7 chips with speeds upto 3.4ghz. Those in the core i3 family had two processing cores under the hood, the core i5’s boasted four and the core i7s also harboured four but with Hyperthreading active on each. Water’s a little muddier now?
Other notable features included:
- Direct connection between CPU, memory, southbridge and PCI slots
- 16 PCI Express Lanes available, this time directly from the CPU and as with the x58, supporting the PCI Express 2.0 standard on all physical slots.
- Multiple video cards still possible, but with only half the bandwidth as was provided by the x58.
- Dual channel memory accepts DDR3 modules
- Graphics chip built into the CPU
- Two third generation SATA 6.0G ports (as first introduced on the P67) and allowing for upto double the data transfer speed over the previous implementation.
Notable absences included:
- No IOH (input output hub) and hence no QPI linking it to the CPU.
Two sparkling boards lay in waiting…
Average Joe 1: Hmm, ok, that’s a lot of processors to choose from….
Mr. Intel: Would you like a list sir?
Average Joe 1: Uh, yes please.
Mr Intel: Here you are…..
- Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz
- Intel Core i7-2600 3.4GHz
- Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz
- Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz
- Intel Core i5-2400 3.1GHz
- Intel Core i5-2300 2.8GHz
- Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz
- Intel Core i3-2100 2.93GHz
- Intel Core i7-2600S 2.8GHz
- Intel Core i5-2500S 2.7GHz
- Intel Core i5-2500T 2.3GHz
- Intel Core i5-2400S 2.5GHz
- Intel Core i5-2390T 2.7GHz
- Intel Core i5-2100T 2.5GHz
Average Joe 1: Rrrright….emmm….why do some have letters at the end even though they run at the same speed?
Mr. Intel: The K means the chip has an unlocked multiplier, previously only my “extreme edition” creations carried this feature, it allows for…..
Mr. Asus: Great overclocking, my board overclocks like you won’t believe, got more on the way aswell…..loads more…wait till you see the Maximus and the Gene…and the…
Mr. Intel: Thank you Mr. Asus, the S means a lower power chip. The 2600S for instance consumes 30 watts less than the 2600k, better for those of you desiring cool, efficient and silent systems.
Average Joe 2: Is there any reason you didn’t combine these features so we could have the best of both worlds, would be a been a little less confusing too.
Mr. Intel: I needn’t have provided either….and I believe choice to be a very healthy thing.
Average Joe 1: OK. Well, I’m taking the Asus, always have and probably always will, along with a 2500K, should be well upto any task I throw at it, plus more than a spot of gaming!
Average Joe 2: I’m going for Intel this time, can’t see too much difference and I’ll take it with a 2400, just want something stable, fast and future proof.
Mr. Asus and Mr. Intel are silent.